Spine Fusions: no better than Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exercise

This report, from the Academy of Neurology may help guide you in decision making:

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“Fusion is usually performed for degenerative disc disease for chronic low back pain, but a number of studies have shown that their outcomes are no better than a combination of graded exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy.”

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Tragically, dementia can result from extensive spine surgery. Many factors can contribute to that. If I were having spine surgery, I would look at the data of dementia following open heart surgery and the protective benefits of ketamine given prior to surgery. Ketamine can spare neuronal function. It is neuroprotective. I link to a publication on that in this post. The problem may be that so few physicians are willing to provide ketamine as they may lack information on its use, yet it is one of the safest medications we have, nontoxic and neuroprotective.

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